iCub: the design and realization of an open humanoid platform for cognitive and neuroscience research

Abstract

The development of robotic cognition and the advancement of understanding of human cognition form two of the current greatest challenges in robotics and neuroscience, respectively. The RobotCub project aims to develop an embodied robotic child (iCub) with the physical (height 90 cm and mass less than 23 kg) and ultimately cognitive abilities of a 2.5-year-old human child. The iCub will be a freely available open system which can be used by scientists in all cognate disciplines from developmental psychology to epigenetic robotics to enhance understanding of cognitive systems through the study of cognitive development. The iCub will be open both in software, but more importantly in all aspects of the hardware and mechanical design. In this paper the design of the mechanisms and structures forming the basic 'body' of the iCub are described. The papers considers kinematic structures dynamic design criteria, actuator specification and selection, and detailed mechanical and electronic design. The paper concludes with tests of the performance of sample joints, and comparison of these results with the design requirements and simulation projects.

Assistive humanoid robot MARKO: development of the neck mechanism

“…Neck with 2 DOFs -movements about the yaw and pitch axes, have ASIMO [10], HUBO [11], HRP-4 [12], EveR1 [13], NAO [14], AILA [15], TORO [16], Justin [17], Pepper [18] etc.Neck with3 DOFs -movements about the yaw, roll and pitch axes, haveWABIAN-2 [19], Albert HUBO [20], HRP-4C [21], Affetto [22], iCub [23], Probo [24], EveR-2 [25], Geminoid F [26], Actroid-F [27] etc.Neck with4 DOFs -yaw, roll, upper and lower pitch movements, haveWE-4RII [28], ARMAR-III [29], ROMAN [30], KOBIAN [31], SAYA [32], BARTHOC [33], Romeo [34], Flutist Robot WF-4 [35], Twente Humanoid Head [36] etc.Neck structures with 2, 3 or 4 DOFs usually consist of rigid and low backlash mechanisms that are interconnected -harmonic drive, cable-driven mechanisms, spindle drive, low backlash gears, etc. In addition to high reliability and carrying capacity, the advantage of these mechanisms is low backlash that provide high positioning accuracy and repeatability of movements.…”

Learning from Demonstration and Correction via Multiple Modalities for a Humanoid Robot

“…Our robot platform and tactile interface consists of the 53-DoF iCub humanoid [13] and a sensor array skin developed under the ROBOSKIN consortium (www.roboskin.eu).…”

Continuing Robot Skill Learning after Demonstration with Human Feedback

“…2 The iCub (Fig. 2) is a 53-DoF humanoid designed to approximate the size of a human child [14]. In contrast to the Segway, the robot is (for our purposes) nonmobile, has a high number of free degrees of freedom to control during teleoperation (15-DoF per arm), and its movements are governed by an accurate kinematic model.…”